Moroccan ‘Roll 3
 By Simon Webster

Before expanding Last issue’s gnawa / rock grooves, I’d just like to reiterate the possible reasons for and advantages of studying Moroccan rhythms from a Western drum-kit player’s perspective.
 
First, a lot of their rhythms are in 6/8 or 12/8. Although nearly all our rock/pop grooves are now 4/4 (duple time), it’s still very important to be competent and confident when playing triplet time.
 
  It’s an industry reality that it’s as important as, or even more important, to be a good all-round player as to be a flashy, technically brilliant but limited player. This is especially relevant if you want to do session and recording work where you have to be able to play everything. It’s no good doing a session where you nail a couple of technically demanding tracks only then to be stumped when asked to hold done a slow triplet- time groove! Sounds obvious, I know, but it’s amazing how easy it is to be caught out like this. In the same way, it’s vital to be able to play slow tempos and remain rock solid. A producer won’t care how fast you can play if he’s asking you to nail a slow rock groove to a click track.
 
  Second, as I said at the end of the last issue, we are dealing with reverse beats here. With Moroccan rhythms, the bass-drum beats are ‘in the air’, or syncopated compared with Western beats, where we tend to put them firmly ‘on the beat’usually the 1 and 3 when in 4/4 time.

  So, playing these rhythms not only tightens up our triplet-time playing but also fundamentally challenges the way we play, structure and feet rhythm in general. It expands our ‘rhythmic vocabulary’ (see my first article in this series) and is a very enjoyable and intense style of drumming to play.
Anyway, back to the beats themselves...

Example 1 is where we got to in the last issue and we will now call this ‘A’.
The next step is to start varying the kick beats. Don’t forget that these variations are the variations that are played on the gnawa bass drum, called ‘T’bel’ that I’ve adapted for the drum kit.

Example 2 is the classic T’bel variation now on the kick that we will call ‘B’.
In the spirit of 6/8 rhythms, the kick drum beats start ON each of the two pulses that define a 6/8 (compared with the three pulses in a ¾!). This is done on purpose to bring the kick back briefly onto the beat, before returning to the standard syncopated pattern in ‘A’.

Notice that we’ve also changed the hi-hat sticking. Instead of staying hand-to-hand, the right hand plays on both the kick beats, with the left hand then completing the triplet. This makes the variation not only stronger but also allows us to continue respecting the under lying swing of the karkabats (here played on the hi-hat), without falling back into the ‘round’-sounding triplets that we’re used to playing.

As with samba, the drive and energy of these grooves come from when the kick drum really locks in with the swing. So, once you are comfortable with B, try playing A once, followed by B once and play this as a loop. Don’t forget to keep listening to the swing and don’t let it drop at anytime. This should make for a gritty, driving 2-bar (and so now a 1218) rhythm.

 Finally, B is a variation and so in reality should be added from time to time, with A being main rhythm,
In the next issue we will be looking at other kick variations and expanding the rhythm in general, which is slowly leading us to the modern dance grooves that dominate Moroccan North African popular music. In the meantime, in our quest for fusion possibilities, check out any recordings by Hassan Hakmoun, a New York-based gnawa musician who’s been pushing back musical boundaries for years. You will be surprised by the musicians he’s played with and the results of these meetings...

Until next time, Let World Music be your oyster.